Orthopedic combined wrist joint and distal forearm support



June 30, 1942- 0. o'DoNovAN 2,287,821

ORTHOPEDIC COMBINED WRIST JOINT AND DISTAL FQREARM SUPPORT Filed April 1o, 1940 INVENTOR BYA ATTO RN EY Patented June 30, 1942 l UNiTED stores MNT rrr-CE ORTHOPEDIC COMBINED WRIST J `AND DHSTAL FOREARM SUPPORT vDaniel ODonovan, New York, N. Y. Application April 1l), 1940, Serial No. 328,845

2 Claims. (Cl. 12S-77)` The present invention is concerned with wrist Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view on the joint supports and more lparticularly is concerned line 3-3 of Fig. 2. with a functionally and structurally orthopedic Fig. 4 isV a fragmentary sectional view illuscombined wrist joint and distal forearm support. trating another embodiment.

It is well known that about the region of the Fig. 5 is a longitudinal side sectional View of Wrist joint of a human arm a multiplicity of the wrist joint support showing the action of the lexor and extensor tendons are held in place latter during extension of the wrist joint, and by the anterior and posterior annular ligaments Fig.`6 is a longitudinal sectional view illusof the Wrist joint. When injury or disease has trating the Wrist joint support or brace in its set in, the annular band of ligamentsy are Weak 10 normal-condition.

ened or partially vdestroyed and thus the tendons Illustrative of the several embodiments disare inadequatelyretained and tend to shift outclosed, the wrist joint support is generally des- Wardly. The object of the present invention is ignated II) and comprises a relatively soft, ilexirealized in the provision of a wrist band or supble, and pliable rectangulelly Shaped ChemOS port whereby the tendons are properly retained lining Il embodying a proximal portion I2, a in place even though the annular band of ligamedial portion I3, and a distal'portion I.

ments about the Wristjoint has been weakened AAttached to the lining II and coextensive the or damaged. The invention has as a further width and length thereof is the flexible and pliaobject the provision of a wristjoint support havble leather hacking hreadly dehOted l5 hel/ing tS ing distal and proximal portions appropriately distal portion IB secured to the distal portion I4 interconnected by a medial flexible gusset which of the lining, its medial o1'- intermediate portion is responsive and conforms to the natural movell appropriately Secured t0 the medial portion 0f ments of the skin and Vadjacent ligaments of the lining while` its. proximal portion I 8 is sethe wrist joint, thus permitting comfortable easy Cured t0 the PIOXIhel peltOIl l2 0f the lllhe normal movements of the, wrist joint even though superimposed O11 the distal Dertien i6 0f the the annular ligaments have been weakened or backing l5 iS the Strap I9A having fastened at damaged. The invention comprehends as. a fur; one end thereof the buckle 20 `with its swingable ther important object to provide a wrist joint pin While the other perforated end 2P-y thereof support or brace wherein the distal part thereof iS left lee- More pelteuldl'ly lines of Stitching functions to support the first row of carpal bones 23 and 24 are utilized t0 fasten together the of the hand, thestructures of the Wrist joint and distal Strap I9. backing I5 and the lining ll, the ngarnents of the Wrist joint, and the tendons While stitching 25 fastens together the backing passing over the wrist joint, wherein the interand the-lining to leave the pelfOleted tell DOI'- mediate or medial portion thereof is in the form tien 22 free and SWllgable.

` of a bellows and supports the anterior and pos- Associated With the DIOXmel DetOIl I8 of terior annular ligaments, and the tendons passthe backing l5 and Securedtheeto is the fleX' lng under the llgaments thus allowlng Comfort ble and pliable reinforcing and'relatively wide able movement of the wrist joint, and wherein leather Strlp 25 Mounted at one ,end of Strip the 'proximal portion thereof supports the .26 are the spaced str-a`ps 21.3p`pr9pnate1y Parry" muscles and tendons of the distal part of the 40 lng the buckles 28 wlth their swingable pms 29. forearm and sustains the radius and ulna bones Also .secured te spaced portions of the reinforcin the region of the distal part of the forearm. mg stnp 25 but at the opposlte end of the latter are the spaced straps 30 and 3l. The inner end other lmpoftant oblects and functlmal and s2 of strap 3o is fastened to the strip ze by the structural advantages, and features of the invenlines of Stitching 33 and 34V which also Secure tion will appear from a consideration of the foltogether backing l5 and the lining I Q The inner lowing detailed description considered in the light end 35 of Strap 3| is Secured to the reinforcing of the accompanying drawing Wherehi strip 26 and the latter to the backing and lining Flg. 1 1S a prone View of the Wrist joint suoby the spaced lines of stitching 36. And to more port according to my invention, shown partly firmly secure the edges of the wrist joint support broken away and in section. lines of stitching 31, 38 and 3S are employed as Fig. 2 is a plan view of the wrist joint support is well understood. prior to attaching thereof to the forearm of the By the present arrangement, the medial part user and shown partly broken away and in secof the wrist joint support is in the form of a tion. flexible, resilient and pliable gusset and as illustrated in Fig. 3, the gusset connection is in the form of a plurality of alternately arranged and spaced ribs having substantially ilat heads and bases while in the embodiment according to Fig. 4 the flexible and resilient gusset also consist of a series of ribs in sinuous formation. In other words, in the form according to Figs. 3 and 4 the gusset in fact defines an accordion or exible connection responsive to movements of the wrist joint, to wit, in any direction for extension of the joint, for flexing of the joint or for lateral extension thereof, of course in instances where the support is properly wrapped about the wrist joint as shown in Fig. l wherein the distal part thereof is over the first row of carpal bones, the proximal part thereof is over the distal part of the forearm, and the medially arranged gusset is about the intermediate part of the wrist joint.

With the wrist joint support positioned as above set out, the end marginal portion 40 is over and against the opposite end marginal portion 4| and hence the free ends of straps 22, 30 and 3| may be conveniently threaded through buckles 20 and 28 for properly tightening the support or brace I about the wrist joint in which instance of course the marginal ends 40 and 4| are in overlapped relation and hence movement of the joint causes the gusset to conform to the natural movement of the skin and the adjacent ligaments of the wrist joint. For example, in Fig. 5, the wrist joint may be said to be extended. In this instance the posterior or upper portion of the gusset or bellows is contracted while the anterior or lower part thereof is expanded. If the wrist joint be in a exed relation the upper part of the gusset would be expanded and the lower part thereof contracted and as shown in Fig. 6 the ribbed parts of the gusset are shown in their normal relation.

Regardless of the movement of the wrist joint, the ligaments thereabout are adequately held in place to prevent spreading of thetendons by the compensatory gusset thus permitting easy and natural and yet comfortable movement of the wrist joint even in instances where the ligaments have been weakened or damaged. By the present invention a serious disadvantage in respect to prior art wrist supports has been overcome since the prior art wrist supports merely sustained the muscles and tendons of the distal part of the forearm and thus failed to effectively support the region about the wrist joint. It follows that the arrangement according to the invention provides effective means for adequately sustaining the wrist joint support whereby the tendons are properly retained in place even though the annular band of ligaments about the wrist have been weakened or damaged concomitantly permitting natural movements of the wrist joint in comfort by reason of the compensatory gusset connection between the distal and proximal portion of the wrist brace or support.

As many changes could be made in the above described constructions and many widely different orstructural embodiments could be devised without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter hereinbefore described in the specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In a flexible wrist joint support, a flexible and pliable backing having a relatively narrow distal portion and a relatively wide proximal portion, an expandible and contractible gusset intervening and connected to said portions and having formed therein a plurality of substantially sinuous ribs disposed lengthwise of said support, a lining secured to said backing and having an intermediate portion provided with a plurality of substantially sinuous ribs fitting into and interlocking with said first mentioned ribs, a reinforcing and flexible strip secured to said proximal portion, complementary and disconnectible fastening means secured to said strip, and complementary fastening means secured to said distal portion.

2. In a flexible wrist joint support, a exible and pliable backing having a relatively narrow distal portion and a relatively wide proximal portion, an expandible and contractible gusset intervening and connected to said portions and having formed therein a plurality of undulations disposed lengthwise of said support, a lining secured to and coextensive with the width and length of said backing and having an intermediate portion provided with a plurality of undulations fitting into and interlocking with said first mentioned undulations, a reinforcing and flexible strip secured to said proximal portion and substantially coextensive with the width and length thereof, complementary and disengageable strap means secured to the ends of said strip, and complementary fastening means secured to the ends of said distal portion.

DANIEL ODONOVAN. 

